Majority of the Supreme Court grants TV time to Kassab and Meirelles' PSD party.

247 – It got what Mayor Gilberto Kassab wanted and what the PSDB candidate for mayor of São Paulo, José Serra, was hoping for: based on the vote of rapporteur Dias Toffoli, the Supreme Court consolidated a majority on Thursday, the 28th, for the interpretation that new parties can count on the representation of federal deputies who are considered founders of the party for the purpose of dividing political advertising time on television. This, in practice, makes the PSD viable. This greatly strengthens the possibility of the former president of the Central Bank, Henrique Meirelles, becoming the vice-mayor candidate on the ticket headed by Serra. It's becoming, based on the vote of a minister linked in the past to the PT, what the PSDB wants. The PSD will still need to obtain a favorable decision regarding participation in the party fund – public money that sustains political parties.

Below is a news item published on the STF website:

Direct from the Plenary: Majority agrees with rapporteur in judgment on election campaign time.

Seven justices of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), including the rapporteur for ADIs 4430 and 4795, Justice Dias Toffoli, argue that, for the purpose of calculating the division of campaign advertising time, new parties may count on the representation of federal deputies who are considered founders of the new party. Justices Luiz Fux, Rosa Weber, Ricardo Lewandowski, Gilmar Mendes, Celso de Mello, and Ayres Britto voted in the same way.

In his vote, Toffoli interpreted item II of paragraph 2 of article 47 of Law 9.504/97 (Electoral Law) in accordance with the Federal Constitution. In this sense, he ensured "to parties created after the elections for the Chamber of Deputies, the right to proportional access to two-thirds of the time allocated to electoral advertising on radio and television, considering the representation of federal deputies who migrate directly from the parties by which they were elected to the new party upon its founding."

In yesterday's session, the minister read the first part of his vote and declared the expression "and representation in the Chamber of Deputies," contained in the heading of paragraph 2 of article 47 of the Elections Law, unconstitutional. With this interpretation, he understood that the absolute requirement of representation in the Chamber of Deputies for a political party to have access to free airtime on radio and television contradicts paragraph 3 of article 17 of the Federal Constitution (CF), which provides for free access to radio and television for all parties.

However, Minister Cezar Peluso gave a more comprehensive opinion than the rapporteur. According to him, the free electoral advertising time should be divided equally among all parties that have candidates in the election. "If the party is created [according to legal requirements], it has the right to equal participation in the use of electoral advertising as provided for by law," he stated.

Minister Marco Aurélio followed Minister Peluso's vote.

Unfounded

Minister Joaquim Barbosa disagreed with the rapporteur, arguing that the issue should be resolved within the Electoral Court and, therefore, a Direct Action of Unconstitutionality was not the appropriate means for this discussion. Thus, he voted to dismiss the Direct Actions of Unconstitutionality.

The voting is expected to conclude this Friday, with the vote of Justice Cármen Lúcia.